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Zion's Classes at Duke this Semester

"Then there’s the “Copy of Writing 101: The Disney Version” class, which focuses on studying classic Disney films and then conducting semiotic analysis on them. It’s a course his mother, Sharonda Sampson, remembers Zion constantly raving about.

“You’re not watching it from a kid’s perspective,” says Zion. “You’re watching it [looking for] what signs is Disney giving away, what are they trying to promote here? From a racial standpoint, from a political standpoint—are they trying to prove something to the world? With The Princess and the Frog—a black princess…you don’t see that very often so that was a message.”

:flush:[laughing]o_O
Wtf?



I’m afraid that Zion will be the one that needs a couch to lay on. LOL
 
The facade of duke being some sort academics bastion died a long time ago. Their athletes are no more academia than any other school in the country. Just frauds with puffed out chests and danglers at ESPN and every major "journalist" promoting their hypocrisy.
The giant fraud that is coach K has been propped up for years by these spineless reporters and such as the last honest coach in America. I have zero respect for him or them. Honesty and integrity are not traits that he nor they possess. They are liars who depend upon the ignorance of those that listen to them.
I never ever want to hear some of the durham frauds get on here and spew this fantasy of their players being in "school". I may get banned if they do.




As far as academics goes, you could say that K and Roy both have hurt the integrity of both schools if you wanted to.
 
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And disillusioned young people buy into it.

And don't get me started on the media influence.

Yep.

And they're only disillusioned because they've been trained to think in terms of entitlements and victimization.

The last few generations, including mine, have had it easier than any generation in any culture in the history of humanity, but they don't want to work for anything (I'm obviously writing very generally).

They want free education on top of all the other perks our society creates.

I not only paid my way through undergrad (penny for penny) but I also have done the same through graduate school.


I've sacrificed much to be where I am. I resent the notion that it should come free, and I also resent it because transforming the system would water down my hard work and the hard work of others. If college becomes free, college education becomes watered down, the standards becomes weakened, and the entitlements grow.

Also, I'm still wondering what fundamental aspects of nature have declared that anyone deserves anything at all - most of all, a free college education paid for by other tax payers?

That's the height of human arrogance, and the current generation practices this arrogance with the charm of a fly seeking out its next ball of crap from which to munch on.
 
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You know, I don't expect athletes to take stem classes. (although some do). But you would think, they would at least be taking business/finance/accounting classes in their only year of college to prepare them to handle the coming financial windfall. Far too many colleges are now promoting these subjective nonsense classes. And we wonder why we have nearly whole generations now who mistake emoting for critical thinking. And we wonder how shows like "The View" stay on the air.
 
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Wait. Is that for real?

A premier academic institution teaches that load of BS?

Wow. Academia in America IS dead.

No. Surely that’s Onionesque.
Me too! I went in thinking I was reading a “parody”, which would be funny enough. Then I realized... Wut?? Lol SMDH
 
I’m pretty convinced higher ed is the next economic bubble to burst. Costs have risen at such an inexplicable rate to such an astronomical level.....there’s no longer any real correlation between how much you’re paying and the value of what you’re getting. It can’t continue. Normally when an asset bubble bursts - stocks, real estate, whatever - what happens is kind of obvious. This isn’t that kind of market, so I’m not sure exactly what it will look like. But it can’t go on.

Sadly, there will just be a call on state taxpayers for a massive bailout when what should happen is universities should have to cut down their administrative staff and get rid of useless departments. Lost in the call for a student loan bailout and the justifications that it would produce more economic growth is that the loans already financed economic growth. Universities channeled that money into more administrators/buildings and that already had an impact on the economy.
 
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Dunno man. Junior and senior year is all about what your major is. To me it was much easier than the basics from freshman to sophomore year.
this...i barely made it through biology and physics with 200+ kids in class, but excelled in upper division courses
 
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My thoughts exactly

Let’s please stop pretending that premier basketball players care about academics, it’s just foolish. College is a scam anyway, these classes probably cover necessary humanities credits. Gen-Ed’s, humanities, BS degrees, outrageously priced, etc
When these recruits stop saying I went to Duke cuz of the prestige and admit they got paid I will stop laughing at them.
 
When these recruits stop saying I went to Duke cuz of the prestige and admit they got paid I will stop laughing at them.

They say it to make the fan base happy. It’s like our guys saying they came here for tradition and the fans. They come for the coach and the shoe company affiliations.
 
Few would likely claim college is worthless. It serves a utility in that a degree helps access jobs that require special knowledge in a particular field.

That being noted, college also features the reality of a system that offers mostly self-enforcement of one-sided education, and the intersectionality discourse, aligned with neo-Marxism, is dominating higher education.

It's a real threat, too. Some of the people on this board haven't been in school for a while, so they may not know how bad it is but I'm just finishing up coursework as a grad student/TA and there is no doubt in my mind that the left has hijacked higher education. Some estimates put the left/right professor ratio at 21/1.

And we aren't just talking liberals vs. conservatives here. We're talking leftist activists (Marxists, postmodernists, Foucaultian disciples, etc.) vs. liberals/conservatives.

Higher education doesn't even come close to featuring an actual balanced discourse anymore. You can make a case for its utility, but you can't make a case for a balanced intellectual education.

Those days are done.
Not sure that having liberal college professors is anything new. In my experience those professors have always tended to be pretty liberal generally speaking. I don't share many of their views but found the different perspectives interesting. Can you give some more specific examples of this new brand of liberalism?
 
He should have learned those things in middle school, he didn't want to be there and then acted like he wanted to come back. Zion is no better than the school which is now being exposed just like North Carolina* play ball and you got it made.
 
It's not "worthless", it is "worth less" than it use to be.

The degrees cost more and the market is flooded with college graduates.

The return on your investment isn't what it use to be when it comes to college degrees.

If you want a top 10% education you have to get a masters degree today. In 1960-70 that was a bachelors.

Anyone over 50 is basically a dinosaur when it comes to higher education today unless they just left college. They do not understand how it works.
 
Not sure that having liberal college professors is anything new. In my experience those professors have always tended to be pretty liberal generally speaking. I don't share many of their views but found the different perspectives interesting. Can you give some more specific examples of this new brand of liberalism?

If you’re going to argue his point, I’d stop. He clearly said it’s activist progressives 21/1 and he’s right, and it’s easily verified. You’re older so to you everything is liberal vs. conservative. In today’s climate, especially at universities, it’s not. Activist progressives overrun college campuses and there’s no alternative viewpoints anymore. Being an independent, moderate liberal, or conservative can hurt you in many ways.

I don’t see the point in arguing it. It’s a fact.

I’m back in school working toward another bachelors in the social sciences. It’s pitiful.
 
If you want a top 10% education you have to get a masters degree today. In 1960-70 that was a bachelors.

Disagree, masters degrees are mostly for people who want to delay the real world even longer. They dig theirselves into more debt and often times, the extra pay they receive is minimal

Again, certain degrees are worth it. 95%, you’re better off skipping college
 
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They say it to make the fan base happy. It’s like our guys saying they came here for tradition and the fans. They come for the coach and the shoe company affiliations.
They come to get to the NBA and they flat out say that. Why do you think we have 50 million threads bitching about oad. Cal and UK players do not hide the goal is NBA money. Duke is a fraud UK admits what they are about.
 
They come to get to the NBA and they flat out say that. Why do you think we have 50 million threads bitching about oad. Cal and UK players do not hide the goal is NBA money. Duke is a fraud UK admits what they are about.

I’m just saying the fan base is happy when guys say it’s about “the tradition and best fan base yadda”

For duke it’s “academics and education”

Tell the people what they want to hear

Neither program is hiding it’s about nba imo
 
Yep.

And they're only disillusioned because they've been trained to think in terms of entitlements and victimization.

The last few generations, including mine, have had it easier than any generation in any culture in the history of humanity, but they don't want to work for anything (I'm obviously writing very generally).

They want free education on top of all the other perks our society creates.

I not only paid my way through undergrad (penny for penny) but I also have done the same through graduate school.


I've sacrificed much to be where I am. I resent the notion that it should come free, and I also resent it because transforming the system would water down my hard work and the hard work of others. If college becomes free, college education becomes watered down, the standards becomes weakened, and the entitlements grow.

Also, I'm still wondering what fundamental aspects of nature have declared that anyone deserves anything at all - most of all, a free college education paid for by other tax payers?

That's the height of human arrogance, and the current generation practices this arrogance with the charm of a fly seeking out its next ball of crap from which to munch on.
This is the 3rd "Like" I've given you in this thread, kudos sir, you "get it".

That said, my 14 year old son has promised me, no matter what, he will go to college and get a degree, a Masters at least. I've "indoctrinated" him, if you will, to the notion that I want him to be better prepared for life than I was, and that I want him to be able to have more choices and opportunities in life, and by and large I still feel a degree, preferably an advanced degree, will give him that chance.

I agree with the fact that the far left has, without question, taken over higher ed, but I've also taught my son strong conservative principles, (let's not devolve into a left vs. right debate on this please), while also teaching him to be a kind and considerate human being. He understands the far left's agenda quite well now, and understands the concept of a free college education paid for by "govt"., (taxpayers), is simply stupid at the least, and morally corrupt at worst. He understands Socialism is a failed experiment, one that seeks to control every facet of our lives.

In any event, I still want him to get that degree, as I feel he will be able to go further in life than his father did, as I dropped out of college thinking, I suppose, that I would be a strong, healthy guy all my life and make very nice $$ being, in essence, a pro welder. I'm medically disabled, and would have no problem collecting S/S disability should I want, but I choose to work and live a little better, and to show the only child I have left that you can continue to make something of your life without govt "assistance".

I believe you have to prepare your children, as best you can, for everything life will throw at them, so even though the far left idiots are running the universities, I still want my kid to become educated, and to get that degree. Rant over, lol.
 
And we wonder why kids are half retarded and unemployable when they get out of college.

I dont blame Zion for taking that stupid shit. I blame the school for offering them.

I agree. Zion is an 18 year old kid weaving his way through today's society. It's not his fault our society has decided that education is no longer valued as it once was. College loan money is handed out like candy to anybody willing to go into a lifetime of debt. Because anybody can go to college via loans or athletic ability, it has dropped the standards colleges operate under. Money is the ultimate prize and dictates practically everything in our society now, not education or college rigor.
Look no further than the way the governor of Ky talks about our state's schools/educators and his push for charter schools (follow the money). Look at the celebrities buying their kids admission to schools they can't qualify for. Look at UNCheat's fake classes and Duke's tailor made courses for Zion. I think the biggest difference between then and now is the wide spread systemic approach to cheating and money's influence over all of it.
 
If you’re going to argue his point, I’d stop. He clearly said it’s activist progressives 21/1 and he’s right, and it’s easily verified. You’re older so to you everything is liberal vs. conservative. In today’s climate, especially at universities, it’s not. Activist progressives overrun college campuses and there’s no alternative viewpoints anymore. Being an independent, moderate liberal, or conservative can hurt you in many ways.

I don’t see the point in arguing it. It’s a fact.

I’m back in school working toward another bachelors in the social sciences. It’s pitiful.

I am older and was asking for specific examples is all. I still have no idea what you are saying is going on other than..."A boogey man is taking over all the colleges". You may be right, but one man's perspective of what is considered radical may appear foolish to someone else based on their viewpoints. Just curious about specific examples to gauge the degree to which this is so extreme compared to when I was a student in college. I know there are always extreme examples you can find in news outlets but I'm curious about your own current personal experiences.
 
Disagree, masters degrees are mostly for people who want to delay the real world even longer. They dig theirselves into more debt and often times, the extra pay they receive is minimal

Again, certain degrees are worth it. 95%, you’re better off skipping college

Couldn’t disagree more Drew.

It’s a scam, but it’s a necessary scam to be a part of for most people.

A Masters degree, first of all, is a major accomplishment. It’s not something that should be taken lightly. And that feeling of accomplishment lasts a lifetime, it supersedes money to many people.

Also if you review the poverty structure and breakdown of income, obviously people that hold masters degrees aren’t present and you typically won’t find undergrads there either.

I don’t know what your family situation is, but for people without the privilege of the success from those before them, college is the way to a successful life with less stress and better hours / work.

Having said that college is not for everyone, but neither is ending an education at grade 12.
 
Not sure that having liberal college professors is anything new. In my experience those professors have always tended to be pretty liberal generally speaking. I don't share many of their views but found the different perspectives interesting. Can you give some more specific examples of this new brand of liberalism?

Yes, check out John Sommerville's The Decline of the Secular University if you want to see a serious analysis of the new trend.

Additionally, the gap between centrist or conservative profs and leftist profs has never been wider, not even in the fabled cultural revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s when there was still a bastion of moderate professors corps.

More specifically, neo-Marxism, combined with postmodernism, has never before been presented and endorsed at the present rate. In addition, intersectional indoctrination is a recent phenomenon, and didn't exist ten years ago outside a few examples where Judith Butler disciples hijacked classrooms on both coasts.

I can go on, but a simple example would feature the exponential rise in gender and queer studies, ethnic studies, and trans studies that did not really exist until the Marxist/subaltern turn in the 1970s which indoctrinated a generation and turned them into leftist professors. As a result, even the Western Civ courses of a decade ago have all been abolished and supplanted by ethnic studies courses which seek to degrade the impact of WASPS(White Anglo Saxon Protestant males) and turn notions of gender into arbitrary cultural constructs.

The literature is extensive as to how this has happened. Sommerville's work is a good place to start if you're truly interested.
 
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Disagree, masters degrees are mostly for people who want to delay the real world even longer. They dig theirselves into more debt and often times, the extra pay they receive is minimal

Again, certain degrees are worth it. 95%, you’re better off skipping college

I'm an independent research class away from finishing my MA is US History. I gave up a full-time teaching job to learn more about my craft and become a better, more thoughtful teacher. I actually chose this path to learn more, and because of that mindset and hard work, I know I've become a more learned teacher (my program has required I read 150+ historical monographs, not to mention primary source research). I take teaching very seriously, in fact, and try to absorb as much as I can. I owe it to my future students. I also owe it to myself.


That said, I will also earn about 3 to 5% more income each year as a result of earning my MA. That 3 to 5% accrues annually.


When I return to teaching, my students will be in the classroom of a man who takes his craft very seriously - one who also understands history and critical thinking in greater depth. The MA program has been enormously beneficial, but it also helps that I already had my values developed before I came here.
 
I look at my dad. He was a plumber and was in the local union. He had to travel a lot, and worked really hard for about 30 years, but now he's been retired for almost 20 years and has a great pension. He never stepped foot on a college campus (well, figuratively speaking).

He wanted a better life for me. So I went to college. Got a Master's degree. I've taught for 22 years. I'll retire in 8 years and likely have to start a second career because government officials have mismanaged my pension and its teetering on the edge of collapse.

In the end, did I have a better life? It's debatable.
 
The type of education received is up to the student. I’m sure there is probably a difference between Zion’s course load vs maybe a Justin Robinson (The Admirals son).
 
I'm an independent research class away from finishing my MA is US History. I gave up a full-time teaching job to learn more about my craft and become a better, more thoughtful teacher. I actually chose this path to learn more, and because of that mindset and hard work, I know I've become a more learned teacher (my program has required I read 150+ historical monographs, not to mention primary source research). I take teaching very seriously, in fact, and try to absorb as much as I can. I owe it to my future students. I owe to myself.


That said, I will also earn about 3 to 5% more income each year as a result of earning my MA. That 3 to 5% accrues annually.


When I return to teaching, my students will be in the classroom of a man who takes his craft very seriously - one who also understands history and critical thinking in greater depth. The MA program has been enormously beneficial, but it also helps that I already had my values developed before I came here.

Good luck. I admire your dedication. I just hope your kids can get their "heads out of their Apps" long enough to appreciate what you are trying to teach them.

LOL!
 
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This is the 3rd "Like" I've given you in this thread, kudos sir, you "get it".

That said, my 14 year old son has promised me, no matter what, he will go to college and get a degree, a Masters at least. I've "indoctrinated" him, if you will, to the notion that I want him to be better prepared for life than I was, and that I want him to be able to have more choices and opportunities in life, and by and large I still feel a degree, preferably an advanced degree, will give him that chance.

I agree with the fact that the far left has, without question, taken over higher ed, but I've also taught my son strong conservative principles, (let's not devolve into a left vs. right debate on this please), while also teaching him to be a kind and considerate human being. He understands the far left's agenda quite well now, and understands the concept of a free college education paid for by "govt"., (taxpayers), is simply stupid at the least, and morally corrupt at worst. He understands Socialism is a failed experiment, one that seeks to control every facet of our lives.

In any event, I still want him to get that degree, as I feel he will be able to go further in life than his father did, as I dropped out of college thinking, I suppose, that I would be a strong, healthy guy all my life and make very nice $$ being, in essence, a pro welder. I'm medically disabled, and would have no problem collecting S/S disability should I want, but I choose to work and live a little better, and to show the only child I have left that you can continue to make something of your life without govt "assistance".

I believe you have to prepare your children, as best you can, for everything life will throw at them, so even though the far left idiots are running the universities, I still want my kid to become educated, and to get that degree. Rant over, lol.

Great post, @wildcatwelder .
 
Couldn’t disagree more Drew.

It’s a scam, but it’s a necessary scam to be a part of for most people.

A Masters degree, first of all, is a major accomplishment. It’s not something that should be taken lightly. And that feeling of accomplishment lasts a lifetime, it supersedes money to many people.

Also if you review the poverty structure and breakdown of income, obviously people that hold masters degrees aren’t present and you typically won’t find undergrads there either.

I don’t know what your family situation is, but for people without the privilege of the success from those before them, college is the way to a successful life with less stress and better hours / work.

Having said that college is not for everyone, but neither is ending an education at grade 12.

I'm an independent research class away from finishing my MA is US History. I gave up a full-time teaching job to learn more about my craft and become a better, more thoughtful teacher. I actually chose this path to learn more, and because of that mindset and hard work, I know I've become a more learned teacher (my program has required I read 150+ historical monographs, not to mention primary source research). I take teaching very seriously, in fact, and try to absorb as much as I can. I owe it to my future students. I also owe it to myself.


That said, I will also earn about 3 to 5% more income each year as a result of earning my MA. That 3 to 5% accrues annually.


When I return to teaching, my students will be in the classroom of a man who takes his craft very seriously - one who also understands history and critical thinking in greater depth. The MA program has been enormously beneficial, but it also helps that I already had my values developed before I came here.

If y’all think the ROI is worth the money for a masters then have at it. I do not
 
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I’m just saying the fan base is happy when guys say it’s about “the tradition and best fan base yadda”

For duke it’s “academics and education”

Tell the people what they want to hear

Neither program is hiding it’s about nba imo
I've seen several recruits parents flaunt the education side of it. You dont think coach k sits there like lord almighty because of the schools academic standing? When you see a UK player living in a mansion and Coach Cal says we are clean you can compare us to Duke til then they are hypocrites who cheat and push a BS agenda.
 
The type of education received is up to the student. I’m sure there is probably a difference between Zion’s course load vs maybe a Justin Robinson (The Admirals son).

That should make Duke students feel so much better about their institution and its integrity.

[pfftt]
 
Yes, check out John Sommerville's The Decline of the Secular University if you want to see a serious analysis of the new trend.

Additionally, the gap between centrist or conservative profs and leftist profs has never been wider, not even in the fabled cultural revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s when there was still a bastion of moderate professors corps.

More specifically, neo-Marxism, combined with postmodernism, has never before been presented and endorsed at the present rate. In addition, intersectional indoctrination is a recent phenomenon, and didn't exist ten years ago outside a few examples where Judith Butler disciples hijacked classrooms on both coasts.

I can go on, but a simple example would feature the exponential rise in gender and queer studies, ethnic studies, and trans studies that did not really exist until the Marxist/subaltern turn in the 1970s which indoctrinated a generation and turned them into leftist professors. As a result, even the Western Civ courses of a decade ago have all been abolished and supplanted by ethnic studies courses which seek to degrade the impact of WASPS(White Anglo Saxon Protestant males) and turn notions of gender into arbitrary cultural constructs.

The literature is extensive as to how this has happened. Sommerville's work is a good place to start if you're truly interested.
Not interested in reading books that sound homophobic or judge other people's gender issues. I couldn't care less what consenting adults do in their bedroom or how individuals choose to spend their brief lives here on earth. As long as they are not forcing me to marry a man or chop off my own weiner, why should I care??? It has no impact on my life whatsoever.
 
If y’all think the ROI is worth the money for a masters then have at it. I do not

Where I live, it certainly is. Teachers can retire making 25 to 60% more than they would have without the MA.

So this isn't really an opinion position, but a verifiable fact when it comes to teaching in states that have percentage income hikes post-MA.
 
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Not interested in reading books that sound homophobic or judge other people's gender issues. I couldn't care less what consenting adults do in their bedroom or how individuals choose to spend their brief lives here on earth. As long as they are not forcing me to marry a man or chop off my own weiner, why should I care??? It has no impact on my life whatsoever.

Then just say you like the model because it fits your ideology/party and world view and stop trying to argue against the facts.
 
Not interested in reading books that sound homophobic or judge other people's gender issues. I couldn't care less what consenting adults do in their bedroom or how individuals choose to spend their brief lives here on earth. As long as they are not forcing me to marry a man or chop off my own weiner, why should I care??? It has no impact on my life whatsoever.

That's not what Sommerville's book is about at all. That's not what my point is about at all either.

You asked for an explanation to my point about how colleges have changed and I gave it to you.

You asked how classes have changed, and I did my best to summarize that process. In fact, I'm not sure how you correlated your response to my post outside of how I mentioned the new emphasis on gender, ethnic, and queer studies supplanting courses like Western Civ.

Sommerville's book says little about LGBTQ issues. In fact, I don't think he mentions it at all. But if you want to see how Marxism and postmodernism infiltrated the academy, his book is helpful.
 
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If y’all think the ROI is worth the money for a masters then have at it. I do not

That’s fine. It’s not one size fits all, but I think you stated it incorrectly. The data is settled. Earning college degrees is essential for development and earning potential for most people.
 
That's not what Sommerville's book is about at all. That's not what my point is about at all either.

You asked for an explanation to my point about how colleges have changed and I gave it to you.

You asked how classes have changed, and I did my best to summarize that process.

If you want to change the discussion on LGTBQ issues, I'm not really going to go there because as far as I'm concerned, it's a separate issue.

It’s ideological nonsense. He obviously votes a certain way / ideological preference and doesn’t want to disrupt the system in place that helps his platform. It’s easy to see. Not worth arguing the merits.
 
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